Transilluminating rod used at laparoscopic hysterectomy
A transilluminating rod used in laparoscopic hysterectomy has a cylindrical body made of light transmitting material like clear acrylic resin, substantially spherically shaped at the proximal end. An end terminal of predetermined shape and size to match an output connector of an external light source is disposed at the distal end of the rod. When inserted into the vaginal tract of a patient and firmly pressed against vaginal end wall the transilluminating rod brings into prominence a transilluminated and marked out fornix observed from inside of the body cavity through an endoscope. This allows for an easy identification of a cervico-vaginal junction enhancing prospects of safe dissection of a uterus.
This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. No. 60/578,358 filed Jun. 25, 2004 by Michael C. Hibner
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCHNot applicable
SEQUENCE LISTINGNone
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to instruments used in laparoscopic surgery, specifically to instruments used to identify a cervico-vaginal junction of a patient during a total laparoscopic hysterectomy.
BACKGROUNG OF THE INVENTIONIn recent years, laparoscopy has become one of the foremost procedures in abdominal surgery, resulting decreased blood loss, infection rates as well as aesthetically pleasing effects. Also, the time for healing and consequently the length of patient's hospitalization is greatly reduced. Laparoscopy facilitates performance of a variety of surgical procedures of the abdomen, such as cholecystectomies, appendectomies, hernia repairs, hysterectomies and the like without requiring large incisions or the invasive procedures of conventional surgical techniques.
The present invention is aimed specifically at providing an instrument to facilitate the technique of a total hysterectomy which is removal of the uterus. The main problem associated with that kind of laparoscopic surgical procedure is a reliable identification of the fornix as seen from inside of the body cavity.
Many attempts were made to design and build instruments which would serve that purpose yet those instruments are not very common; in fact, there is not a single one that would be universally adopted and used by the surgeons. However, some inventions in this field might be considered as a related art to the present invention and will be briefly discussed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,631 discloses a transvaginal tube, which can be used at laparoscopic hysterectomy or other laparoscopic surgery involving insertion of the tube into vaginal tract of a patient. The proximal end of the tube is beveled and also angled to receive the cervix. The tube can be made of a transparent material to expose the vaginal epithelium through its walls. There is also a system of sealed ports and valves at the distal end of the tube to secure the pneumoperitoneum inside the body cavity. Among other purposes, an intra-abdominal tissue can be removed through these ports.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,317 discloses an instrument for use in uterine laparoscopic surgery. Again, the body of the instrument has a form of an open tube; the proximal end of which is shaped to support against the top wall of the vagina. The instrument includes end closure means detachably fastened to the distal end of the tube; also, the inventors provided incisions at this end to anchor the suture. To maintain the pneumoperitoneum a sealing ring is provided between the tube and the wall of the vagina.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,077 discloses an instrument with which a uterus can be manipulated during the laparoscopic hysterectomy. It includes an elongated shaft with a handle, an inflatable sleeve in the middle part which after being filled with air helps to maintain the pneumoperitoneum in the abdomen, an articulated joint, and finally close to the distal end there is a vaginal extender with a cup engaging patient's vaginal cervix to provide an anatomical landmark and backstop for making an incision at the fornix.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,750 discloses an instrument specifically designed for manipulation of the uterus, in particular for laparoscopic complete hysterectomy. It comprises a handle at the proximal end of an elongated shank at distal end of which there is a manipulator probe and a claw to grip the cervix. Manipulation is done by tilting the probe around the pivot of the joint by means of an actuating screw. Also means are provided to seal the vagina in order to maintain the pneumoperitoneum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,863 discloses a light transmitting instrument made of an acrylic resin, used to transilluminate the vaginal fornix during the laparoscopic surgery. The body of the instrument has an elongated stem with a cup at the proximal end to engage the cervix. A light source is attached to the distal end of the instrument by means of a light cable. An additional aperture in the elongated body of the instrument can be connected to a suction pump to remove blood or to introduce a catheter when the instrument is used for hydrotubation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,380 discloses an illuminating instrument comprising a transparent semi stiff outer tube with a flexible light conductor inserted into said tube. The combination is intended to illuminate the body's cavities but was not specifically designated for laparoscopic surgery at uterus.
The listed above inventions are cited here as most representative examples only and by no means exhaust the whole lot of instruments patented with the purpose of facilitating the total laparoscopic hysterectomy on mind.
As already mentioned, the main problem associated with laparoscopic hysterectomy is an exact and reliable identification of the fornix and its surroundings as seen from above, that is from the direction of the body cavity. Surgeons skilled in the art of laparoscopic procedures at uterus and particularly the hysterectomy are very well aware of the problems that are awaiting them mainly the danger to cause damage to the bladder or other organs surrounding the uterus.
An instrument or a tool designated to facilitate the hysterectomy should exhibit some few important features.
First of all, it should be so built that when inserted into the patient's vagina it should help to mark out, seen as a kind of a bulge, an exact position of the fornix as observed from the inside of the body cavity through an endoscope. At the same time it should provide enough stretch to the tissues surrounding the cervix in order to make them thinner and to obtain more distance between the uterus and the organs surrounding it. The first two patents listed above that is U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,631 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,317 have a tubular shape beveled at the distal end to receive the cervix. When rotated, the tip of the tube is intended to exert pressure on the fornix and produce an imprint observed through an endoscope by the surgeon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,077 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,863 envelop the cervix with some kind of a cup what means that the pressure on the cervix is uniformly distributed. It should be appreciated, however, that the differences in women's anatomy both as regards the shape and the size of the generative organs preclude using one instrument that would fit all patients in all cases.
Secondly, since the aforementioned feature is not fully sufficient to reliably define the outline of the cervico-vaginal junction some additional means should be employed. As it seems, the easiest and most reliable one is to additionally transilluminate the fornix. This should be facilitated by the fact that the instrument is capable of stretching the fornix so that it becomes more pliable to the penetration of light through it. Out of the above listed and briefly discussed patents only one that is U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,863 is specifically designed to transilluminate the fornix during the procedure of hysterectomy. Yet, as mentioned before, it has a fixed size cup at its distal end what precludes exerting a thrust on a particular part of the fornix. Since an instrument built around this idea has not yet been introduced to the market its usefulness cannot be evaluated.
Also, when the instrument is inserted inside the vagina a proper level of pneumoperitoneum must be maintained during the surgical procedure. Some instruments disclosed in the above mentioned patents do not fulfill that condition in particular the instrument according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,863. Some instruments, discerned in other patents, are employing some kind of ports and valves for this purpose.
There are, of course, other considerations that might be taken into account when discussing desirable features of the instrument like, for example, ease of sterilization, ease of handling, cost, etc.
An idea for the invention had been borne in my mind during my fellowship in the Department of Gynecologic Surgery at Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale. There, in some surgical procedures like laparoscopic hysterectomy or colorectal procedures clear acrylic rods, colloquially referred to as Lucite rods (produced by Seelye Plastics), are used. These rods have a common length of 240 mm and different diameters. The biggest diameter is approx. 32 mm and the smallest approx 16 mm. Proximal, by what I mean closer to the patient's body, ends of these rods are shaped like a sphere, distal ends are flat. Inserted into the vagina during the laparoscopic surgery they were meant to stretch and define the position of the fornix during procedures like hysterectomy when decisions had to be made where to cut to dissect the cervix. When the thought to use light to transilluminate the fornix came to my mind I constructed an attachment to the rod comprising a sleeve and a strong flashlight with a four xenon LED light bulbs. The results were astonishingly good and the reliability as well as an ease of hysterectomy procedures I performed using the instrument considerably increased. Despite great improvement there were some drawbacks as well, one that the instrument was % a bit cumbersome as regards sterilization and a special method had to be applied to solve the problem. Also, the power of light source sometimes was not sufficient to contrast with the strong light from an endoscope which had to be switched off during the moment the incision was made.
Later on I improved on the design and adapted the rod so, that an external light source could be directly connected to it. This second prototype is still under tests but preliminary results surpassed my expectations and I find its usefulness invaluable.
Based on experience gathered during testing of my prototypes the objective of the present invention is to provide an instrument which would accomplish the following:
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- a) afford possibilities for stretching and marking out of the fornix for the purpose of clearly outlying position of the cervico-vaginal junction as well as securing more space between the uterus and the organs surrounding it,
- b) ensure strong transillumination of the fornix from outside to make it distinctly seen from inside of the of the patient's body cavity even in a presence of light from an endoscope,
- c) make use of commercially available endoscopic light sources,
- d) ensure that the pneumoperitoneum is maintained during the surgical procedure,
- e) enable easy sterilization and maintenance,
- f) make handling of the instrument easy and the price affordable.
In accordance with the present invention light from an auxiliary external source is provided to the distal end of cylindrically shaped transparent acrylic rod in order to identify and mark out position of a cervico-vaginal junction of a patient by the way of stretching and transilluminating a vaginal fornix during the laparoscopic total hysterectomy.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINS
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- (i) end connectors of different types can be used interchangeably with the same main body of the transilluminating rod.
- (ii) when, after few times of being used, inevitable scratches and burns appear, only the main body has to be replaced what may be cheaper than replacing the whole tool.
- (iii) a color filter can be easily applied.
All transilluminating rods depicted so far had main bodies made of transparent acrylic resin. Transilluminating rod 110 shown in
It has been found out that due to the slippery nature of the rod, even in the presence of grooves like 14 shown in
It has to be noted that methods of connections of parts in some embodiments are shown as exemplifications only and should not be construed as limitations to the scope and specificities of these embodiments. Any known in the art of engineering methods of fastening or coupling can be equally applied.
Proximal ends of all transilluminating rods depicted so far had one feature in common namely that they were shaped like a regular sphere. Although this will be a preferred configuration, it will be appreciated that in some instances, depending on anatomical conditions of a patient, type of an operation, etc. other shapes of proximal ends of transilluminating rods can be of advantage.
In
Claims
1. A transilluminating rod used at laparoscopic hysterectomy having a proximal end and a distal end, further including a coupling member at said distal end of said rod by which said rod is connected to an external source of light, whereby said proximal end of said transilluminating rod inserted into vaginal tract of a patient and pressed firmly against vaginal end wall, enables a surgeon to observe and reliably identify from inside of the body cavity an exact position of the fornix and its surrounding organs.
2. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein a body of said rod is made of a clear acrylic resin.
3. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein a filter is provided to change color of transilluminating light.
4. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said rod has a diameter greater than 18 mm.
5. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said rod has a length greater than 200 mm.
6. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein grooves are provided close to said distal end of said rod whereby said grooves enhance grip on said rod.
7. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said proximal end of said rod has a spherical convex shape.
8. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said proximal end of said rod assumes a non-symmetrical shape.
9. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said rod has a different diameter on part of length of said rod.
10. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said coupling member assumes a form of an end terminal of predetermined shape and size to match an output connector of said external light source attached thereto, produced as one piece with a body of said rod.
11. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said coupling member assumes a form of a ferrule of predetermined shape and size to match an output connector of said external light source attached thereto, inseparably disposed over a stub produced as one piece with said body of said rod.
12. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said coupling member assumes a form of a separable end connector having an end terminal of predetermined shape and size to match an output connector of said external light source attached thereto, affixed to said distal end of said rod by means of a thread, a cone or other means known in the art.
13. The transilluminating rod of claim 12 wherein a light guide is disposed inside a hole passing through said end connector said light guide having both ends finished in a way known in the art.
14. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein said body of said rod is made of any medical grade material suitable for the purpose, substantially other than the clear acrylic resin.
15. The transilluminating rod of claim 14 wherein an insert made of a light transmitting material is disposed at the tip of said distal end of said rod.
16. The transilluminating rod of claim 1 wherein a detachable handle is provided to assist in handling of said rod.
17. The transilluminating rod of claim 15 wherein said handle is adapted to accommodate an end connector.
18. A transilluminating rod for use at laparoscopic hysterectomy wherein a light source is fully integrated and hermetically sealed into a body of a cylindrically shaped rod of a predetermined size and shape, having a proximal end and a distal end.
19. The transilluminating rod of claim 18 wherein at least said proximal end of said rod is manufactured of a light transmitting material.
20. A method of using a transilluminating rod at hysterectomy surgery comprising:
- (a) connecting an auxiliary external light source to said transilluminating rod,
- (b) inserting said rod into vaginal tract of a patient and exerting pressure with said rod against vaginal end wall,
- (c) observing a transilluminated and marked out fornix from inside of the body cavity through an endoscope,
- (d) identifying an exact position of the cervico-vaginal junction, (e) dissecting said cervico-vaginal junction with a tool inserted through a laparoscopic port,
- (f) grasping and removing of the uterus outside said body cavity through said vaginal tract,
- (g) closing an internal end of said vaginal tract by suturing.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 22, 2005
Publication Date: Dec 28, 2006
Inventor: Michael Hibner (Phoenix, AZ)
Application Number: 11/158,195
International Classification: A61B 18/18 (20060101);